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3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
A bit long-winded and meandering for my taste, but still an epic story with interesting world building and mythical characters.
The world is a place where humans can transform to animals, and tribes are formed on the basis of the animals that one can Step to. There are hybrids as well, humans who have the ability to Step to more than one animal forms. The plot follows Maniye, the daughter of wolf-chief and tiger-queen, living under the shadows of the wolf-tribe, how she becomes an outcast in her quest to find her presumed-deceased mother's tribe and how she forms friendship and acquaintances with other creatures of the world.
There weren't many surprises in store for me. The lone wolf Broken Axe as a symbol of resistance, the dragon-Champion Asamander initially deceiving Manye but ultimately helping her out, the villain Akrit - all felt familiar, and there were no real cliffhangers to sustain tension. Despite this, the book succeeds with its sprawling tale and interesting characters.
* And nobody would spend two nights in one place.
Also no bad thing. Roots are for trees
The world is a place where humans can transform to animals, and tribes are formed on the basis of the animals that one can Step to. There are hybrids as well, humans who have the ability to Step to more than one animal forms. The plot follows Maniye, the daughter of wolf-chief and tiger-queen, living under the shadows of the wolf-tribe, how she becomes an outcast in her quest to find her presumed-deceased mother's tribe and how she forms friendship and acquaintances with other creatures of the world.
There weren't many surprises in store for me. The lone wolf Broken Axe as a symbol of resistance, the dragon-Champion Asamander initially deceiving Manye but ultimately helping her out, the villain Akrit - all felt familiar, and there were no real cliffhangers to sustain tension. Despite this, the book succeeds with its sprawling tale and interesting characters.
* And nobody would spend two nights in one place.
Also no bad thing. Roots are for trees
I quite enjoyed this one, as is my general stance with an Adrian Tchaikovsky title. It was a good book overall, and although it was maybe a little slow-going in places, I did like the overall idea of it.
We essentially have a world of shapeshifters here and different clans have different “totem” animals. The main character is from the clan of the wolf and all her clansfolk can transform into wolves. Her mother was from the clan of the tiger however, and so she has a dual bloodline that leads to a lot of conflict, a lot of politicking, as people try to use her to take control of the clans and control of the land as a whole.
This is all very well done, and the writing is excellent, as I’ve come to expect from Tchaikovsky, but it didn’t quite reach the heights I wanted it to, even if the starting blocks are definitely there.
We essentially have a world of shapeshifters here and different clans have different “totem” animals. The main character is from the clan of the wolf and all her clansfolk can transform into wolves. Her mother was from the clan of the tiger however, and so she has a dual bloodline that leads to a lot of conflict, a lot of politicking, as people try to use her to take control of the clans and control of the land as a whole.
This is all very well done, and the writing is excellent, as I’ve come to expect from Tchaikovsky, but it didn’t quite reach the heights I wanted it to, even if the starting blocks are definitely there.
The pace didnt really pick up until the last 150 pages. It was an okay story, but I had figured out the 3 twists before they were revealed so when they happened, I was left a little disappointed. I might read the sequels down the line, but not right now.
I liked this but I didn't love it. I'm not quite sure why - the concept of a kind of iron/bronze age tribal world of conflicting clans of shape-shifters is a great one and Maniye's fight for independence is interesting. But it just didn't pull me in somehow
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Death of parent, Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Infertility, Physical abuse, Rape, Torture, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Cannibalism
Minor: Bullying, Sexism, Slavery, War
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
While I felt the story was slow to start, the premise interested me enough to keep going, and I'm glad I did. I wouldn't call it a masterpiece, but it's an enjoyable book with lots of animals (which is always good as far as I'm concerned) and two characters that really stand out to me: Hesprec and Broken Axe. I'm definitely tempted to move on to volume two :)
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes